The view from the ornate throne on which Bradley Wiggins sat in the blazing London summer sun in 2012 must have been glorious.
To say all the planets had aligned for him would have been an understatement.
He had become the first Briton to win the Tour de France. He had followed it with an Olympic time trial gold in his home city.
It felt like the coronation of a king. Wiggins, then 32, glided to London 2012 glory under a constantly moving tifo of union flags and Olympic rings.
By 2016, thanks largely to his many successes on the track, he would become Britain's most decorated Olympian thanks largely to many track successes.